Blind Sided
by Redconky
Summary: Jai's cutting remark makes Annie realize how she feels about Auggie. Post-ep fic to "What Is and What Should Never Be."


**Blind Sided**

Rated "T" for violence

_I don't know how this compares with my other fics, but I felt like something was missing after the episode "What Is and What Should Never Be." This is my attempt to fill in that hole and get a small dose of Annie and Auggie. Thanks to everyone who's favorited and reviewed my prior fics and feel free to submit politely constructive and/or positive reviews!_

Something wasn't right, but Annie couldn't put her finger on it.

She looked around her bedroom, and things had been shifted ever-so-slightly, like someone had gone through her things and attempted to put them back the way they were. Annie knew she was in the middle of a game, but she wasn't sure which one. Cat and mouse had only two sides, so it wasn't that. It was more likely one in which she was the bait.

Then it hit her: it was a honey trap, but she didn't agree to be the honey.

She thought about how Joan had told her that the CIA uses its operatives in different ways – _use_ being the operative word. In a world of smoke and mirrors, could she trust everything she saw? Everyone she knew?

It was time to get answers, and Annie had a pretty good idea of where to start.

Jai was stopping by shortly to pick her up for dinner. He was handsome, charming, intelligent, but something was lacking when he smiled. It was a toothpaste commercial smile. It had no mirth or lightness behind it. Jai's smile was just another tool he used to get what he wanted. Now, it seems, he wanted Annie – but was it for business, pleasure, or both?

Annie was forming a plan: she'd convince Jai she wanted a night in watching movies, and he might let it slip he knew where some of her things were, which would allow her to question him and his motives for his interest in her.

Jai arrived, on time as always. Annie opened the door to find Jai in one of his many sharp suits.

"I don't think Filomena's will let you in the door wearing Chuck Taylors," Jai said when seeing Annie in her Saturday afternoon clothes.

"Well, I was thinking . . . we spend the whole week in suits and I thought it might be nice to just chill here."

"What do you have in mind?" Jai asked, his voice thick with expectation.

"I thought we could order a pizza and watch a couple of movies," Annie replied, deflecting his innuendo.

"Sure," Jai said, not hiding his disappointment. He walked into Annie's place and he headed for the only seating available – her bed.

"I'll go to the main house and get a couple of beers. Why don't you order the pizza for us?"

"What do you want on it?"

"Anything's okay except for anchovies," Annie shouted while heading out the door.

Jai dialed and ordered a supreme hand-tossed, then started looking for where he had seen the DVDs – behind the sliding doors of a cabinet near her TV.

When Annie came back in, she saw Jai holding up three different movies.

"So, what are you in the mood for – _Roman Holiday_, _Breakfast at Tiffany's_, _Charade _-"

"Someone's an Audrey Hepburn fan," Annie said while sidling up to Jai to give him a beer.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one," he said while throwing the DVDs on the bed and using his now-free hand to splay it against the small of her back and draw her completely to him. While Jai forcefully kissed Annie, she had managed to put her beer on a nearby shelf and used both of her hands to push him onto the bed. He smiled up at her, but stopped when she abruptly turned him over and twisted his arm behind his back. She grabbed his beer from his hand and twisted that arm behind him as well.

"How did you know where my DVDs are?" Annie shouted.

"I just hunted around. It's not like it's a large place."

"I wasn't gone that long. TELL ME – HOW DID YOU KNOW?"

"You don't think you're entitled to any privacy, do you? You work for The Agency. We own you," Jai said in a very cool tone.

"Is that why you're using me to lure Ben back? Is that my value?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jai hadn't broken a sweat, in spite of the fact that Annie had him in a painful and prone position.

Annie got off of Jai and let him get up.

"It's bad enough trying to figure out who to trust in the field. I didn't expect not to be able to trust the people I work with – or, at least, not trust _some_ of the people," Annie said.

"Let me guess – you'd rather be here with Auggie," Jai cracked. "Yeah, I'm sure he's a real film buff – especially Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin."

Before she realized what was happening, she saw her right fist laying into Jai's jaw, which knocked him down onto the bed. Annie stood back, feeling more vulnerable than she expected. His mocking comment had made something inside snap, and with the snap came the realization that Auggie meant something to her – more than a coworker who was also a mentor, more than a friend, maybe a . . . .

No, don't go there, she thought. Did she want to end up like Joan and Arthur? But Auggie was more than the labels she had applied – coworker, mentor, and friend. She just didn't see it until now.

"I think I'd better go. I crossed a line with that remark. I'm sorry, Annie." Jai got his suit coat and headed towards his car. Annie looked out the door, only now allowing tears to stream down her face – not for Jai, not for Ben (who had withheld so much and still expected so much), but for Auggie, who'd never hidden anything.

Jai got into his car and dialed a number.

"Arthur, it's me. We may have more of a problem with Annie than we expected."

At the same time, Annie was making a call of her own.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Annie said between sniffles.

"What's a matter?"

"Are you alone right now?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, I had a date, but she cancelled," Auggie replied. "What's going on?"

"I need to talk to you. I may have screwed up – again. I'll even have pizza – in a couple of minutes."

"You wanna come over?"

"Yeah, if that's okay."

"As long as the pizza doesn't have anchovies."

"It doesn't."

"See ya in 20?"

"I'll be there," Annie replied before she hung up.

Auggie smiled, because he knew what had happened, having called in a favor to plant a bug in her place to make sure she didn't get herself into trouble again. He'd heard it all – including the harsh contact her fist made with Jai's face.

"She feels the same way I do," Auggie said aloud and alone. "Now what?"


End file.
